The Dark One's Soul
by pippin143
Summary: (s5e8 "Birth") Magic always comes with a price, but Emma is willing to do anything to save her true love. Even if the price is her immortal soul. An alternate story line to save Hook.


**yes we all know what happened in s5e8 "Birth", but what if this fan pre-reveal speculation had happened instead...**

* * *

"No!" Emma shouted. "I'm not going to let him die. Not when I know there's a way to save him."

"Emma, you heard Merlin. Excalibur is too powerful. And you said it before," Regina warned, "That kind of magic comes with a price, and by you using it freely like that who knows what that price will be."

"That's not true." Emma growled. "Robin is fine, nothing happened to him or any of us." She turned toward Merlin, eyes wide from both hope and hysteria. "You told me how powerful I am. Let's use that power. If I use the Promethean flame to absorb all the darkness, I would be strong enough to undue Excalibur's curse."

"Emma, you can't do this." Merlin warned in a tired, yet empathetic, voice. "Even the Darkness has its limits."

"I have to!" She cried, tears running down her red face. "I can't lose him!"

"Stopping someone so close to death is impossible, it's unnatural." Merlin explained with soft urgency. "Using your powers to do this will give the darkness the strength it needs to take over. Everything we've worked for will be lost, and the darkness will be impossible to destroy, not without you paying the steepest of prices. It will be your final step into the dark."

"I don't care what happens to me!" She yelled frantically. "I've done it before, I can do it again."

"Emma, no!" Merlin insisted, aghast. "You don't understand. This is not something your magic can do. You do not possess the power—!"

"I'm not going to lose Killian!" She cried, cutting him off. Her face darkened and white knuckles gripped her beloved's blood soak coat collar. "And I'm not going to let anyone stop me."

With a whirl of smoke, she teleported the two of them out of the diner and into the field where they shared a blissful kiss mere days ago. No one would find them here. She swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled out the flame.

"Emma…" Killian breathed, forcing words with his dwindling breath. "Please, don't. I'd rather die than see you do this. I can't be responsible for you…" his words became strangled as he coughed some more, flecks of blood dotting his lips and rushing for the gash in his neck.

"But our future!" She whispered nervously, holding the flame in one hand and gripping his quivering palm in the other.

"I'd be happy just to know you have one." He managed with a sincere smile, eyes growing glassy and grip on her hand weakening.

Tears poured from her eyes and she uncontrollably yelled at the dying man in her arms. "That's not enough for me!"

Dropping his shaking hand, she cupped the flame in her palms and held it high above her head, summoning from the abyss the darkness that was tethered to Merlin all those years ago, calling the pieces that were stolen from Nimue, the first Dark One, back into her soul.

"Okay, the first time was rude, but this is just insulting."

The voice startled her and she abruptly stopped the incantation. "Who's there?!" She challenged through her tears, whirling around in panic and half expecting to see another shade manifested by the darkness.

Instead she saw a thin, pale man in what looked like a suit of black reptile leather. In the sun his sleek black hair was almost a dark blue, and the light seemed to bend away from him, shrouding his face in shadow from which glinted two yellow eyes.

"Who are you?!"

"Of course, nobody ever knows who I am." He sighed dramatically, pinching his long, crooked nose. "But if we're being honest, nobody wants to. If you meet me, ninety-nine out of a hundred says you're dead, one out of a hundred says you're doing something very naughty. And sweetheart, let's just say you're at the top of Santa's not-so-nice list."

"That doesn't answer my question." Emma seethed, one hand protectively on Hook, the other raised threateningly at the newcomer. "Who the hell are you and what do you want?"

"To be politically correct it'd be 'who the hades', and, being as popular as I am, I've been graced with many names. Pluto if you're feeling romantic, the devil if you're particularly pious, Beelzebub if you're trying to be hip...but you, sweetheart, you can call me Hades." He winked.

"Hades..." She murmured. "The Greek god of death?" She leaned protectively over the ever paler Killian. His wound was still oozing fresh blood and was barely breathing. "No! You can't take him! I won't allow it!"

"See the thing is," Hades mused, awkwardly rubbing his neck, "that's kinda my job. My purpose in this world, or rather, the next. And you're sorta not supposed to interfere with it. Unless you want to be eternally punished. Just saying." A wide, twisted smile spread over his long, horse-like face. "But you…you're an exception aren't you? You call yourself the Dark one?"

"I didn't want to become this," Emma insisted, though knowing it was becoming increasingly harder to let the power go. "But if I can use it to save him I will!"

"By continuing to use the darkness's magic?" Hades mused, leaning over and casting a shadow darker than night over the lovers. "It's tasty, isn't it? I should know, since I'm the one who let it into this world." He poofed a distance away and started pacing, talking as if revealing a master plot. The flowers beneath him wilted to sickly browns and grays everywhere his Italian clad feat stepped.

Her thoughts became scattered as Killian began to spasm again behind her. She whirled back to him, shaking hands supporting his cold, sweaty head as he gasp for air. A few more sobs escaped her as he tried to figure out what to do. A dark cloud of charcoal smoke swirled beside the two of them and suddenly Hades was standing beside her.

"Look-stop panicking, he's not dying yet. I've got control over that, remember?" He consoled with an eye-role, waving the lingering smoke from his face and gagging dramatically. "If you want to save him, you've got to pay the price this time. I let that Robin guy slide before because you were new to the club, but this, this is too far. This is true love we're talking about right? Something you desperately need? I can't just give it to you. So level with me and let's make a deal."

"I'm not dealing with a demon!" Emma growled, face firm and eyes like daggers. "I'm the Dark One! I don't need you!" Though she had subdued the darkness in her, she could hear the many whispers pressing against the back of her mind.

"See that's where you're wrong." He corrected with a smug, awkward note. "You may be this Dark One, as you mortals call it, but pulling a soul from deaths grasp can only be done by me. And I'm not willing to let this rapscallion's go for free."

"Don't test me, demon." She growled darkly.

"You wound me, sweetheart." He jested, pointing at his heart from which an open wound appeared. Dark, wet blood began to soil and seep through his black coat. "But it's not consorting. It's just that basic mantra you all live by. All magic comes with a price. And the price of a human life is not an easy one to equal."

Mind buzzing as Killian began to shake again, his breath shallow and slow, she asked, "How dire is it?" She asked in a low voice, knowing the answer but waning to hear it anyway.

"So heavy the boys at the top said I had to tell you before you committed the act." He smiled a thin, ghostly, twisted smile. "Your life."

"A life for a life..." She repeated quietly. "Mine for his?" Would it be cruel to be so selfish to make him live a life without her so she would t have to live a life without him? Of course not a voice whispered brushing against her ear.

"Oh, don't be so morbid." He said with feigned displeasure, rematerializing in a gray cloud by her side. He laid a pale, scraggy hand on her shoulder. "Throwing your soul down to the underworld would be such a waste, let alone a bore. What I need is a servant. Someone to do something for me in the mortal world that I cannot physically do. And owning your soul, well that would be a special treat indeed. Long story short, you're connected to me, whether you like it or not. "He spread his arms wide, blue flames flashing across the dying field. "I'm the Prince of Darkness! You, my sweet Dark One, are simply a mere fragment of me. A small speck of my dashing, immortal essence. You're my channel to influence this world. And being able to control that channel is worth a thousand lives."

"What would you have me do?" She demanded, voice low and eyes hard.

"Now that would spoil the fun." He whined, clapping his hands in a pout. "But I can tell you this. After you do what I ask, your soul will be yours again."

"No." Emma answered with a frim glare. "You're lying. I can tell."

"Well then say goodbye to lover-boy." As the words left his cold mouth Killian shuddered under her, a new swell of blood running from the wound.

"Killian!" Emma screamed, eyes wide in panic. The pirate's face scrunched in pain then suddenly relaxed in an unsettling expression. "Okay, okay!" She cried, whirling at the demon. "It's a deal, but only if you swear Killian won't die."

"Cross my heart and hope to...well that was possibly the worst word choice ever." Hades sang happily. "Alright, I swear on the river of Styx that your lover won't die. Capeesh?"

"Deal."

She reached her hands over her love's still body and called forth the unnatural power from the ember in her hands. A strange rushing sensation filled her but she ignored it, instead focusing on the dying man in her arms. Concentrating, she called upon that unnatural power she used to save Robin. Killian gasped, head rearing backwards as his fleeting soul wound its way back into his body. The bloody wound closed for good this time and Emma no longer sensed Excalibur's taint.

"Eggsellent." Hades mused, narrowing his yellow eyes. "You might even find you enjoy it. The Darkness is just dying to serve me. Heh, no pun intended."

Sure enough Emma felt the brushing whispers she'd fought so hard to subdue rush through her head, a garbled cacophony of silky voices that made it impossible to find which thoughts were her own.

"I'll be in touch sweetheart." Hades replied with a wink. "Oh, and I love the new look. It's so…", he paused, a full smile revealing rows of sharp teeth , "Dark." And with a wave of jazz hands he disappeared from the now dismal field in a swirl of sickly gray smoke.

Killian's color replenished and, as his breathing returned to normal, his eyes fluttered open. Sobbing heavily, Emma bent over him, wrapping her arms around his clammy neck, and mumbled words of love and relief. Dazed, his lips found hers in a hungry, impassioned kiss.

But something was wrong.

He pulled away and as he looked at her his weak smile faltered. The soft blonde locks were gone, pulled back into a severely tight, platinum bun, and her skin glinted like the crust of snow. Dark lines encircled her eyes which, though loving, appeared cold and dead, devoid of happiness to be alive. Concerned, he scrambled from her, causing her to pull back, pale face flashing in hurt and what was left of her brows drew together in confusion.

"Emma…" he whispered, looking her over in dismay. Even her white cloak had been replaced with black crocodile leather. "I was gone…how did you…?"

"Killian, you're alright." She reassured him, reaching out a stiff, glinting hand. Her fingers burned like dry ice against his flushed cheek. "You're safe now. I brought you back."

"Emma...what have you done?"

* * *

 **Basiaclly everyone is pretty pissed at Emma for giving into the Darkness and because of this she feels betrayed, especailly by Hook since she did this to protect them, so when they return home (as per HAdes order) she wipes their memories so they won't interfere with her job. She belives after she finishes what HAdes wants then she will be free and able to finally rid herself of the darkness. And to tie with the Greek Gods arc we are all expecting, Emma is to use excalibur to free Hades from his duties to the underworld so he can roam free, so obviously everyone is against that idea. Sadly, Hook discovers a loop hole: if he dies, Emma's contract becomes void since Hades's word is broken. Segue to sB arc and operation save killian!**


End file.
